Image : Life and Death in the Deep Sea

The tethered deep-sea vehicle Jason was a workhorse on a research cruise in the Gulf of Mexico in October 2010. Its cameras documented deep-sea coral communities and its manipulator arms secured samples of animals, seafloor sediments, and brown material enrobing corals, which scientists suspect may contain oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill. (Photo courtesy of Chris German, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)